One Order of Innocence Please...

One lovely thing about being on a cruise line is that you can chose to eliminate the horrible stories that the news broadcasts out of your life and be clueless for a while. Occasionally I'll slip on the TV and the CNN station will be on. Just yesterday I noticed that NYC was in a stir and still is over a fuel smell. I guess all the atmospheric detectors didn't read that the air was contaminated with ethanol or any burnable substance it just smelled like it. Evidently they put smelly chemicals in these gasses so that our senses can pick up that there is a leak that can be dangerous. This same chemical was wafting through the air in Manhattan. Subways were closed, people were strolling around in confusion, and some got sick. How does such a chemical get released into the air to affect the whole city? Wow. Another thing I read from our NY Times summary was that geologists are predicting the global future for the next billion or so years and that the landmasses will all change and converge into new continents. The Mediterranean Sea will become the Mediterranean Mountain Range. Africa will fuse with Europe, San Francisco will disappear, the east coast will disintegrate, etc, etc, on and on. Billions of years from now. I sure hope I will not live THAT long, so why do I need to know? If I wanted to get information like that, I guess I'd pick up a Scientific American, Discovery, or other related media, but when you see a title that says "Long-Term Forecast Says There Will Be Fewer Continents" in the NY Times, my curiosity peaks a little considering the global damage we're doing as human beings right now. I was sad to have wasted my time on an article that was telling me that billions of years from now these things would happen. In the same respect a little relieved. I already believe because of our warming state that the coastal US and some coastal areas lying below sea level in the Mediterranean and other places will go under water in my lifetime. That's kind of disturbing, but to think about billions of years away. Whew. Then there are the normal traumas that concern me like bird flu in Indonesia and killings in India. I think after my walkabout on the ship today, I'll just remain clueless for a while. We have one show under our belt and it went, for the most part, well. I walked around the ship today as we were leaving Puerto Limon, Costa Rica and loved the classiness and quaintness about it. There are a few nooks and crannies that provide lovely atmosphere and hideaways from the crowds. The Lido restaurant where we eat has an outside terrace that's covered and gives a French café sort of feel. It's so nice. The people have been so welcoming and receptive so far. It's been a nice balance to the strict coldness we received on the Rotterdam. I didn't go ashore today. It was my duty to stay on board "in port manning." We rehearsed our Broadway show today and it was so relieving to FINALLY sing through a show with freedom. There's no canned music. No track leading us along. I was overzealous and excited. I wanted things to go so well. We would finally be leading the band. I can't wait to perform that show. We're now sailing to the San Blas Islands in Panama. I was there in 2000. It's a TINY place off the coast of Panama. All the locals line up to get the tourists to buy their wares and take their photos as they sit outside their huts. Mind you, these huts are deceiving from the outside. If you take a peak inside one, you'll notice that they are fully equipped with TV, cable, phone, fridge, and all. They BANK on these tourists and the cover of this book looks ragged and poor. Yet the inside pages are filled with luxuries. I don't think many of the locals stay here for many overnights. Their job is to put on a performance for us, which I find amusing. Especially the hut marked "Hard Rock Café" that was painted on by some local artist instead of the commercial billboard most of us are familiar with. After we leave this isle, we're off through the canal, which will be my 4th full transit through. My oh my I've been in this industry a while.